A retired writer, Kubat Aliev, is living his last days as a famous and poor writer in a society increasingly concerned by wealth. A widower, he has no children and his only wish is that literature continues to bring enlightenment to his small and disillusioned nation. He sees the possibility of a continuation in his friend, a younger and an equally talented writer, Sapar. However, Sapar is very ill and is in need of an expensive treatment. On the day that Kubat decides to sell his apartment to save the bed-ridden writer's life, he learns his own younger businessman brother is beaten up by collectors for debts. Kubat finds himself torn between his overwhelming desire to save the sick writer's life and the pressure to help his kin.
At the Bishkek film festival, the top prize in the national competition, the Golden Bars (bars is the snow leopard, the Kyrgyz totem animal), went to "The Road to Eden/Akyrky Koch,
The top prize of the national competition, the Golden Bars (bars are the snow leopard, the Kyrgyz totem animal) went to "The Road to Eden/Akyrky Koch", directed by Dastan Japar Uulu and Bakît Mukul (2021) - the tragic story of an old widowed writer of national fame who helplessly witnesses the indifference of those around him to the values he grew up with. When he learns of the incurable illness of a younger friend and apprentice, also a writer, he sells his only apartment for his treatment. The friend dies and the protagonist ends up in a nursing home. Leading actor Marat Alishpaev, a veteran of the local stage, gives a Shakespearean performance. The film had its international premiere in Tallinn in 2020 and has so far received twenty awards and nominations.
(Elena Dulgheru)
